Without Light (New Adult Biker Gang Romance) (Night Horses MC Book 2) (2 page)

How could I not? I was so
hungry.

“
One bite at a time,” she said. “If you throw it all up you’ll regret it.”

I nodded. I stretched my legs out in front of me, winced, and pulled the tray into my lap.

There was a clean fork. Heaven.

“
Where am I?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“
You’re… somewhere they own,” she said. “They bring girls here. You’re lucky you haven’t tried to run away. The last girl did.”

“
I’m not the first girl they put in here?” I asked, although I’d figured that out already. They were so matter-of-fact, they had to have some sort of system.

“
I think I was one of the first, but it’s been a long time,” she said. Her English was good, but she had a lilting accent I had to think about. “They let me out to wait tables at their restaurants now sometimes. I like that.”

“
What do you do when you’re not waiting tables?” I asked, after a mouthful of beans.

I’d never tasted anything so good.

I took a gulp of water. Real, clean water.

She looked at me strangely.

“
What do you think?” she asked. “To these men, a girl is a whore or she is a wife.”

She held up her hand.

“
No one has given me a ring and no one will now,” she said.

“
Can’t you run away?” I asked. “Give a note to someone when you’re at the restaurant?”

Can’t you tell someone where I am?

I didn’t say it out loud, but my eyes begged her to take pity on me.

“
They will hurt me. They will hurt my sister,” she said, simply. “We are never away from here at the same time. I do not know where this is.”

I bit my lip.

“
Are they going to… are they going to hurt me more?” I asked.

She didn’t say anything.

“
You are a whore, or you are a wife,” she repeated. “You will make them money or you give them boys.”

I swallowed.

One of the men had groped me, but they’d not done anything more.

Yet.

“
Other girls have tried to escape?” I asked.

“
The door isn’t locked,” she said. She wasn’t smiling now.

“
I figured the one at the end of the hallway was,” I said.

“
No,” she said. “It never is. It goes to the main room.”

I frowned.

“
What’s keeping girls in?”

“
Any girl who leaves one of these cells, the Jefe tells the men she’s free. They can do what they like, and they don’t even have to pay him. There are men around the clock, men there always.”

I winced.

“
I had to clean up last time,” she said.

She looked away, her eyes dark with sadness.

“
This is delicious,” I said. “Thank you.”

The girl - I couldn’t think of her as a woman - smiled in surprise, and dimpled.

“
You like it?” she asked. “It’s my mama’s recipe. I make it sometimes.”

“
It’s totally delicious. How do you make it?” I asked.

She hesitated, and then started to carefully list the ingredients, making me repeat them back to her until she was satisfied. Sometimes she wasn’t sure of the English for something, and we had to figure it out together.

Finally, she sighed.

“
That man you were with, you know he is bad, yes?” she asked.

“
What?” I asked.

“
That man, that man in the restaurant. You were giggling with him, but he was bad. He killed my cousin, “she said.

Merle.

“
Killed him? Really?” I asked.

She nodded.

“
That’s horrible,” I said. I wanted to cry out, say Merle was too kind to do something like that, to hurt this sad girl’s cousin, but the truth was I’d only met him twice.

She nodded again, more emphatically.

“
You recognized him?” I asked.

She hesitated, and nodded. “He doesn’t go to the other Mexican restaurants, he knows better, but we, Jefe, bought that one a few weeks ago. I guess maybe the man had not heard?”

“
He knows better?” I asked.

“
He wouldn’t step foot anywhere el Jefe owns,” she said. “Jefe owns the other restaurants. Now he owns all of them.”

Merle would have to go to another town for his burritos.

“
The busboy, he is in the gang,” she went on. “He took your napkin to el Jefe, and el Jefe said you are informing to Merle and Merle must tell you about the dope.”

I shook my head.

“
I just learned about it,” I said. “I mean, it was the second time I’d met Merle. He told me he sold dope, and I thought he meant weed.”

She laughed.

“
You mean the grass, right?” she asked, and mimed puffing on a joint.

I nodded.

“
No, no. Merle is a Night Horse man. They might smoke it, but they don’t bother selling it. That’s for the little fish.”

She put her hands together, brown palms pressed tightly together, and ‘swam’ them around, grinning crookedly at me.

“
Merle is a big fish?” I asked.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

“
He is… he is el Jefe! He is the boss man!” she said. “His word is law to the Night Horse men.”

“
He seemed so nice,” I mumbled.

“
Ah, I think he likes you, mamacita,” she whispered. “Men are nice to girls they like, for a while.”

“
Yeah,” I said. “Yeah.”

“
He had such long talks with you,” she said, her voice low and soothing.

“
Yeah,” I said. I grinned. “He was so nice. Prom sucked. Merle was warm, though, and we danced.”

“
Si,” she said. “Si. You danced. You had long talks. What did he tell you?”

I shrugged.

“
He told me I was pretty,” I said.

“
What did he tell you about himself?” she asked conspiratorially. “I’ve never been on a date, they don’t let me out much.”

“
He told me I was pretty,” I repeated. “He didn’t say a lot about himself. He talked about his bike. He likes his bike. I don’t like bikes. I never want to get on one again. I think I swallowed a bug.”

“
He didn’t tell you anything else? Nothing about the money, or where they keep things?” she asked.

“
No…” I said.

I thought about it.

“
Oh!” I said.

“
Yes? Si?” she asked, leaning forward.

“
He has a handkerchief. He told me to blow my nose and said it was okay that I got it gross,” I said.

She sat back and shrugged.

“
Nothing exciting,” she said, dismissively. “Sounds like he didn’t like you that much. Shame.”

“
No, he liked me,” I insisted. “He must have. He came back. He sat through, like, the most awkward talk ever, with my parents.”

“
So, your parents met him,” she murmured.

“
Yeah,” I said. “Merle got them to let me go back out with him. He did like me. He did so.”

I had to think he did. I had to be sure that, if I were here, it was at least for a guy who liked me. To deal with all of this, to be trapped, to be so afraid, and not even to be rewarded with a kiss at the end, that was too hard to think about.

“
Well, men like Merle, jefes, they tell women they like things,” she said. “That’s how you know.”

“
Oh,” I said.

I tried to think of anything more interesting to tell her, she was so nice and so sad, but my head felt swimmy.

My eyelids were so heavy.

I yawned.

“
I’m sorry,” I said. The world started to move.

“
It’s okay,” she said.

El Jefe appeared in the doorway behind her. I flinched, but she didn’t, she just looked up at him and shook her head.

“
Please,” I started. I was going to beg him to go away, but my heavy eyes fell shut and I knew no more.

------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up.

My body ached from being slumped in the concrete corner for… I didn’t know how long, but I hurt.

I was so tired of hurting.

At least I was alone, and the lights were on.

The door was shut. I didn’t know if it was locked. I didn’t bother trying to stand up.

The girl was gone, and the plate. I started to wonder if I’d imagined the whole visit, but when I lifted my hip, I saw a single grain of cooked rice, crushed and clinging to my flannel pajamas.

I hadn’t imagined it. She was there.

I hugged my knees again and tried to replay our conversation.

She seemed so frightened and sad, but then she teased me about Merle. I didn’t know what to think.

At least she fed me. I must have been more tired and sick if I thought, if I’d passed out after eating…

Passed out.

I did pass out.

She’d drugged me.

Or El Jefe had drugged me, and made her give me the food. Or El Jefe had told her to drug me. Or El Jefe had drugged us both.

She didn’t flinch, though, when El Jefe came in. I did. Was she not as afraid? Or was she so used to being afraid that she didn’t even flinch any more?

I went round and round, trying to figure her out, trying to figure out if I’d told her anything bad.

Fuck.

Oh, fuck, oh, no, fuck.

I told her Merle had met my parents, and she’d repeated that, with a funny little look on her face.